Constantine (son of Theophilos)

Constantine (right) and his grandfather Michael II on the reverse of a solidus minted by Constantine's father Theophilos.

Constantine (Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, c. 831/834 – c. 835) was a short-lived prince and co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

Life

Constantine was the eldest son of Emperor Theophilos and Theodora. He had five sisters: Thekla, Anna, Anastasia, Pulcheria, and Maria. As Theophilos succeeded Michael II on 2 October 829, Constantine became heir to the throne and was crowned co-emperor, and he appears as such on the coins of his father, albeit adressed as despotes (still not a formal title, but an honorific interchangeable with basileus). He died soon after, still in his infancy.

There is little clarity as to the dates of his birth, coronation and death. According to the Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit he was born in the late 820s and died before 831, but his parents first met in May 830 and married the following month, suggesting a birth date of 831 at earliest. Some authors give his birth date as 834, assuming that he was crowned immediately after his birth. In any case, only one emperor is mentioned in the De Ceremoniis for 831; Constantine is also missing on coins minted in 831/32 and 832/33, though this could mean he was only raised to co-emperor in 833. He must have died by 836, since in that year Theophilos was recorded as being without a male heir (Constantine's younger brother Michael III would be born in 840), a situation Theophilos attempted to rectify by marrying his infant daughter Maria to general Alexios Mosele, who shortly before this (possibly as early as 831) had been promoted to caesar.

Sources

Ancient sources

• Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, De Ceremoniis II, 42.
• Theophanes Continuatus III, 4 und 18.

Modern sources

• Garland, Lynda (1999). Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527–1204. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14688-7.
• Grierson, Philip (1973). Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins. Vol. III. Dumbarton Oaks Papers. pp. 406–452. ISBN 9780884020455.
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Pratsch, Thomas; Zielke, Beate (2000). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit: 1. Abteilung (641–867), Band 2: Georgios (# 2183) – Leon (# 4270) (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 568–569. ISBN 978-3-11-016672-9.
• Martindale, J.R. (2001). "Konstantinos 259". Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire. ISBN 978-1-897747-32-2.
• Treadgold, Warren (1988). The Byzantine Revival, 780–842. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 283–287. ISBN 978-0-8047-1462-4.
• Treadgold, Warren (1975). "The Problem of the Marriage of the Emperor Theophilus". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 16: 325–341.